I think a high ranking, green trusted, DT2 member tried to scam me this past Thursday, but I don't really have definitive proof.

The Other Member (lets call him TOM,) sent me a PM asking me to connect with him on Telegram, which I did.  The discussion was about a prospective loan client who wanted a loan that TOM was unable to fill.  He asked if I could fill it, and since collateral was offered, I agreed to do so.  TOM started a discussion with the client, and then things got weird.  At some point it struck me that this might be a phishing attempt, but I continued along because I wasn't 100% sure (and I'm curious.)

TOM and the client wanted me to send the bitcoin to TOM's address first, which was to be followed by by the collateral being sent to me.  Then TOM was to forward the loan to the client.  This was a deal breaker for me, there was no way I was going to send first but I tried to appease the client by pointing him to  my lending thread, providing a PGP signed message including the collateral address, and message signed with the address holding the coin.  I even sent dust to the address TOM provided, to prove I had the coin.

About that address; I asked TOM to send me a signed message on the forum with the address to which I was supposed send the bitcoin.  He sent me an address on Telegram, ignoring my requests to send it through the forum and include a signed message.  The request for a signed message was made and ignored three times.  The address had never been used before, and of course no reference to that address was found in a google search.  Shortly after that I backed out.

I have exported the discussions from Telegram, but as you know these could easily be faked or modified which is why I say I don't have definitive proof.  Of course I did not modify them, and I have them stored in a way that may help some day.

Once I started getting uneasy about the scenario it occurred to me that TOM's account might have been hacked, and it was possible the hacker sent me the original PM.  There are no recent password changes on TOM's account, but hackers have been known to sneak into people's accounts, and send PMs to unsuspecting member phishing for a scam.  So I gave TOM the benefit of the doubt.  I sent my own PM to TOM, pretending that I lost his Telegram address, and asked that he resend it.  The next morning I found a reply from TOM confirming the same Telegram address with which I had the discussion the previous night.  This isn't to say that the account has not changed hands, or been hacked, but it does seem to confirm that whoever is in control of TOM's account is the same person I communicated with on Telegram Thursday.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a he-said/they-said drama by claiming some one is a potential scammer if I'm just being sensitive.  And I certainly don't want to ruin someone's reputation if I'm wrong.  But, most critically, If my hunch is right I don't want this guy scamming someone if I could do something about it.  There were a lot of red flags during the discussion, and it behooves us all the recognize them.


1) Don't trust someone's rank.
2) Don't go by trust scores, verify their ratings and reasons behind them.
3) Insist on critical information be sent here on the forum, where you can verify and prove the contact.
4) Insist on signed messages if you are to send first in any trade.
5) Just because someone appears trustworthy here, doesn't mean they will be outside the forum.

[DireWolfM14’s Escrow Service]

    DireWolfM14’s Escrow Service    

To help support Bitcoin, the forum, the community, and in an effort to prevent scams I want to provide Escrow services free of charge.  I have no experience providing escrow services, so this will be my first foray.

Why should you trust me?
You shouldn’t.  I’m just a semi-anonymous figure on the internet, but I’m far less likely to scam you than that newbie from whom you’re about to buy BloodBath&Beyond gift-cards.  I love this forum, I value my integrity and reputation more than money, and I would never do anything to hurt others.  Put all that together and you may allow me to help you trade safely.


Why am I offering my service for free?
I don’t want to work for free, but I will if it keeps just one person from being scammed.  I want to help bring bitcoin to the mainstream, I want the forum to feel like a safe place for traders, sellers, and buyers, and I want to thwart scammers before they have a chance.  My service is free, so there’s no reason not to use an escrow provider, there’s no excuse to get scammed.  It may cost you a little extra time to coordinate the deal, but I won’t charge you a dime.


What services do I offer for free?
Any trade between two individuals.  Physical or digital goods, currency exchanges, whatever you can think of that’s legal.  The more I know about what you’re trading the safer you will be (in case arbitration is needed,) but I don’t really need to know what you’re trading.  I will not provide escrow services for Bitcointalk.org account sales.

Currency exchanges involving reversible, fiat-based payment services like (but not limited to,) PayPal will not be accepted due the high risk of charge-backs.

Escrow services for advertising campaigns, bounties, games and rounds, and other businesses are available for a nominal fee.


How it works:
The two parties come to an agreement on price, delivery, inspection period, and any other logistics that may relate to the trade.  Once the particulars are settled, I am contacted by PM with both parties included in a group discussion.  I will provide a unique address or addresses for your trade.  All addresses will be signed with my PGP key.

Once I share the address(es) with the party the buyer will send the payment.  The buyer will then share the transaction ID with the me and the seller.  Once the payment has been made the seller will deliver the item.  Any information relative to delivery (i.e. tracking numbers) will be shared.  Once the buyer has received and inspected the item, the payment will be forwarded to the seller.

Transaction fees will be deducted from the amount sent to the final recipient.  I will not be accountable for transaction fees.  Transactions will be sent with minimal fees, unless I am instructed otherwise.


Communications:
All communication must be established here on the forum.  Communication for trades may be held here in this thread, or through private messages.  I will not communicate with anyone regarding escrow services outside the forum, unless previously agreed upon.  If members are unable to communicate effectively due to PM restrictions, we may move the discussion to a third party app, such as Keybase or Telegram, but not until it has been agreed upon here on the forum.

I will never contact you to solicit my services.  If some one approaches you claiming to be me and offering escrow services, they are trying to scam you.  Be wary of impostors.  


Tips are accepted:
If you feel like I’ve helped you I won’t object to a contribution.
Tip Jar: 37JdXX1dXQo7p1KFg8awCU3DY8oMyJ77q5


Request a signed message:
If I send you an escrow address make sure it's signed with my PGP Key: 8FE4A7A028980A92143F2E936FC0D490FA1861B8

Code:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

DireWolfM14's Escrow Service
Tip Jar: 37JdXX1dXQo7p1KFg8awCU3DY8oMyJ77q5
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQEzBAEBCAAdFiEEj+SnoCiYCpIUPy6Tb8DUkPoYYbgFAl3MfHwACgkQb8DUkPoY
YbhM5Qf+Kn4AsRvtm3JmhZK6fij3v7T7FOTElXycRnXxazkYzR4sCcGbOmznw1T5
SaxVeq5lWZdnE1lVEcKzAkwWDoK8I7/mGzfDM+EM/faEwWI37j3C2e7j6ju4OcG8
s6MSVUxFgixdTbQnivdCpvdA4mY6tGuwDS6+gaN7cpDMhOdIHfjcmeBuxURz/DQz
6y139Daj8/I3b2BZj/ouSovrKNgvcBIdNjw6lcq9JT33v9KHtrCzUXU2teW2L1VJ
yS3urnq1dZvs6h0AxdymPD8InBwtu7X0r2Q+u3VnKas9dXnE+wyZVDoRhyhnouCi
dFMXSvjecLaLzusxYmwjv0XheJ4bvg==
=bZGR
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Edits: 13 NOV 2019

Removed:

I will provide my service for currency exchanges, but I will not act as a middle man for PayPal or any other fiat-based payment service providers.  Anyone selling cryptocurrency for fiat payments through a provider like PayPal will have to receive the payment directly, and assume all risk of charge-backs.  I will not be held accountable for buyers who charge-back fiat payments.  Buyers who pay for trades using PayPal and similar fiat-based service providers will be asked to provide a PDF print-out of their transaction page, screen shots will not be accepted.

Added:

Currency exchanges involving reversible, fiat-based payment services like (but not limited to,) PayPal will not be accepted due the high risk of charge-backs.

I have the funds in my PayPal account, or I can send Zelle from my bank account, your choice.  
If it's PayPal I can send F&F, but you pay any fees that may be charged.
Rate is 1:1 at Preev price.
If you are a highly trusted user, I'll send first.
If you are a newbie, or don't have any trade history I'll expect you to send first, and I'll wait for a couple of confirmations before I send.
If you want to deal, post here then send me a PM.

The Canadian crypto currency exchange Einstein has shut down recently, and apparently ran off with $12.1 million of it's customer's money.  On October 31st the exchange's lawyer contacted the British Columbia Securities Commission to inform them the exchange would be shutting down in 30 to 60 days.  On November 1st the BCSC asked the exchange's law firm for information pertaining to where and how their customer's crypto was being held.  Two hours later the law firm informed the BCSC that they no longer represent the exchange.  The BCSC hasn't been able to contact any representative of the exchange.

Press release from the BCSC:
https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/News/News_Releases/2019/68_BCSC_acts_to_protect_customers_of_Einstein_Exchange_crypto-asset_trading_platform/

I want to buy $200 worth of BTC, I can send payment through PayPal (F&F,) or Zelle.
1:1 rates @ Preev price.
If you're a trusted user I'll go first.
Any PayPal fees will be covered by the seller.

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
25 OCT 2019
This is DireWolfM14 requesting $200 USD worth of bitcoin.
Payment will be made through PayPal or Zelle.
Funding address: bc1q2nwf4njwkpeuyycx5a95nj6mf8m45djdk863xs
Alternate funding address: 38TzcBABEav1iB7796miQaciY3cgJd5S7c
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
157v67atJjnx7Fdi2wmcBBpChugHNmDWup
H3wwfO/Y8nIM9I+vLklRhy4rfWtrzxwJ2I4GoytUYE4qUr1BWDw8hBzgPQK5QkIQVe4CdjjA6mS9bQXEkAYYvlg=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Signing address staked here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.msg41987221#msg41987221


Completed Transactions:

24 OCT 2019 with Yatsan.  Thank you.
TxId: 039f8eeac45b348319f2563d6e3cf4f609d2bd81360e3122017154c17f4abf23

ovextrade.com appears to be a scam.  

Their "about" page claims they've been around since 2014, but then contradicts it's self further down the page stating they were founded in 2016.  According the the WHOIS data the domain was created on 10 OCT 2019.

The Terms of Service page is plagiarized from this site: https://exmo.com/en/docs/agreement

According to user Mosperian ovextrade.com requires a deposit of 0.015 BTC to make a withdrawal of funds that are already in your account.  He was directed there by loan scammer.

He will send you the money on ovextrade.com and require you to deposit .015 btc in order to withdraw from the shady looking exchange to an external wallet. Sent me 1.5 btc when I really only wanted .1 and it's locked on this site. I doubt the BTC actually exist it's probably just a displayed number. He also makes you send a long video reading off a bunch of stuff. It's very shady. I wouldn't suggest anyone do it. I was just desperate because localbitcoins put me in a bad situation.

I'm always open to earning a little extra income, so I'd like to rent out my signature space.  I prefer payment in bitcoin, but I'll consider other currencies as well.

I don't gamble so I hardly ever post in the gambling sections of the forum.  I'm not opposed to advertising gambling services, but I just wanted to clarify because casino signature campaigns require a certain number of posts in the gambling boards.

I reserve the right to refuse any offer, for any reason, without explanation.  I will not promote Ponzi schemes, High Yield Investment Programs, or anything else I feel is a scam.  I reserve the right to remove from my signature space any promotion at any time without explanation.

Send me a PM with your offer, or post here with any questions.

Any MotoGP fans around here?  What do you think of Marc Márquez?

I'm a VR46 fan, and likely always will be.  I really don't like Márquez' attitude or his aggressive riding style.  I think he takes too many risks with the safety of other riders.  But I can't help but think we are witnessing history in the making.  The guy is a fucking robot, only rivaled by our own LoyceV in his abilities (in their respective field.)

Unless Yamaha really switches things around next year, or Vale jumps to another factory team after the 2020 season, I don't see him claiming another championship.  Currently Vale is 2nd on the all time win list, 7 wins away from matching Agostini's career record (122 wins.)  But Valentino hasn't won a single race this year.  Is he getting too old, or an we blame Yamaha for his lack of productivity?

Consider that Márquez is fourth on the all time list, sitting at 79 wins as of this morning, and with this morning's win he clinched this year's championship with 4 races left to the season. He is 14 years younger than Rossi, and it seems like he's just getting started.  

So what do you think, is Márquez the greatest ever?

I'm re-posting this because someone pointed out that I missed the check-box to allow the changing of your vote.  Sorry for botching it up.  The other thread is locked and voting disabled.  If you don't mind, please resubmit your votes here.

I'm curious about the forum consensus on this issue.  I'm only interested in your inclusions at the moment, therefor the poll is limited to who you might include and why.  If you would like to discuss your exclusions as well, feel free to do so.  No local rules, but I ask that we keep the discussion about the trust system in general, and not about any one individual.  Please stay on topic.

Obviously I have my criteria, which I recently illustrated in a post title My musings about the trust network.  I'm not asking for advice, I'm just curious how most of the fine folks on this forum go about assembling their inclusion list.  There are no right or wrong answers, you won't be judged by me for your response, there's only my curiosity.

You can choose as many or as few options as you like, and you can even change your vote later if you wish.  Because I understand that even the most stubborn among us can have our minds changed if we're being honest with ourselves and rational in our approach.

Thanks for taking the time to satisfy my curiosity.

I'm curious about the forum consensus on this issue.  I'm only interested in your inclusions at the moment, therefor the poll is limited to who you might include and why.  If you would like to discuss your exclusions as well, feel free to do so.  No local rules, but I ask that we keep the discussion about the trust system in general, and not about any one individual.  Please stay on topic.

Obviously I have my criteria, which I recently illustrated in a post title My musings about the trust network.  I'm not asking for advice, and I likely wouldn't accept it anyway.  I'm just curious how most of the fine folks on this forum go about assembling their inclusion list.  There are no right or wrong answers, you won't be judged by me for your response, there's only my curiosity.

You can choose as many or as few options as you like, and you can even change your vote later if you wish.  Because I understand that even the most stubborn of us can have our minds changed if we're being honest with ourselves and rational in our approach.

Thanks for taking the time to satisfy my curiosity.

I just got an email from ShapeShift with a coupon code for a free KeepKey Hardware Wallet.  I think the offer is only open to those who've already registered with the ShapeShift exchange service, but if you've been considering getting one it might be worth looking into whether they're available for new registrants.

I already own a KeepKey and I'm not particularly thrilled with it.  The Pin feature is limited, making it slightly less secure than a Trezor or a Ledger.  It does, however support Bip39 seed phrases and passphrases, so it could be used as a back-up to your other hardware wallets.

The Chrome extension only supports legacy addresses (for receiving, it can send to Bech32 and nested segwit addresses,) but that can be overcome if you use it with Electrum.  I've never used mine with ShapeShift's web interface, so I don't know if this limitation exists with that interface.

Anyway, if you qualify to get a free one, I don't know why you wouldn't.  Shipping is also free, so the price is definitely affordable.  

I was bored, so I put together a simple calculator to predict the date of the next Activity milestone for increasing rank.  The spreadsheet assumes consistent activity to the dates it calculates, and your post count is equal to or higher than the required activity.  Of course there are still those pesky merit requirements one must achieve.

To use it, enter the date of your most recent bump in activity score, and your current activity points in the yellow fields.

And, without further ado, the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-QJgAw9oZ0Rf6Y5uE53d3koEbgP4BoZaTsF6toJBAJY/edit?usp=sharing

What's really going on with FruitBasket and CryptoSparks?  At first blush I was suspicious that the two are alts of one user, but I am unable to find any evidence to support this suspicion.  But I did find that FruitBasket does have an alt that was busted for being a paid shill...  Things that make you go HMMMM...

Not long ago CryptoSparks started a topic offering to pay for shilling his trading bot service.  The same service that any rational person would scrutinize with a healthy dose of skepticism.  Lo and behold, here's FruitBasket, defending and promoting CryptoSparks scambot.

So, @FruitBasket are you a paid shill for CryptoSparks?

Theymos' recent upgrade to some of the spam-heavy boards to reduce spam bumping seems to be working well, or at least as intended.  The strategy of adding a "bump-score" to threads to keep them closer to the top of the board is ingenious, in my opinion.  

It got me thinking about another possible application of a "score rating."  One for trolls.  I was thinking that a button on each user's profile page to tag that user as a troll could start to count towards that user's "Troll Score."  A similar approach to users' bumping power can be applied to the each user's troll-tagging power.  Again, a decaying effect of tagging someone as a troll could be applied to reduce it's long-term affects on that user's profile.

Then come some restrictions to the trolls:  If their troll-score gets too high they are restricted from creating new threads.  Higher still, and a possible temp-ban is in order.  What do you guys think?

The recent revelation of a security issue with Trezor (and keepkey along with other open-source firmware wallets) has got me thinking.  Satoshi Labs have addressed the vulnerability, and claim it's a remote threat.  None the less, I'm now quite concerned about losing my Trezor, or having it stolen.  I love my Trezor T, and since I use it to store the coins for my lending service I like bringing it along when I'm away from home, which I am now reluctant to do.

The solution; add a strong passphrase, which creates another wallet.  That, however brings up another question: If I do lose my Trezor and need to restore my wallet do I need another Trezor to be able to able access the newly created wallet?  Is there anyway to restore a passphrase encrypted Trezor wallet by using Electrum (for example?)  Does the passphrase essentially become an extension of the seed phrase?

I wanted to take some time to research this over the weekend, but didn't have time.  So, I'm asking the experts.

Thanks in advance. 

The first thing I’d like to do is eliminate any ambiguity that might exist in the terminology.  Frequently the term “trust” is used in a a couple of ways:  The term might be used to refer to feedback left on a user’s review wall, and it might also be used to refer to inclusions or exclusions in one’s trust settings list.  For this article I’ll use the word as it’s defined by most dictionaries when it pertains to people; an assuredness and confidence you have for another individual’s honesty, ethics, and morals.  So what does it mean to trust someone?  No doubt trust means different things for different people.  In order to answer that question from my personal perspective I’ll try to paint a picture of a real life dilemma. 

Let’s say, hypothetically, I have a friend and her name is Alice.  Alice is a wonderful person, she’s generous and helpful.  Alice is always kind and in a pleasant mood.  And I trust Alice to always do the right thing.  If I was sick and needed a friend to deposit a large sum of cash into my bank account, I’d call Alice…  Unless her boyfriend, Bob is around.  Bob is a nice enough guy, but I suspect he’s embezzling money from his elderly grandmother.  Bob’s best friend, Jeff is frequently around as well, and he was convicted for selling stolen electronics.

One thing I’ve noticed about Alice is that she doesn’t have the best judgment in other people’s character.  She’s rather naïve and gullible, and tends to associate with people whom I do not trust.  The other thing about Alice; she doesn’t seem to know there’s a difference between liking an individual and trusting him.  She trusts everyone she likes, which I believe is also a lapse in judgment.

Now, that’s not to say that Alice is always making poor decisions, even when risks are involved.  But sometimes she does.  If she were to invite me to go rock climbing with her and her experienced father, I would accept.  However, if she were to invite me to a party on a house-boat with her friends who’ve been known to excessively indulge in alcohol and drugs, while mishandling firearms and explosives, I’d graciously decline.

If I were to apply the analogy above to the forum’s trust-system: I would give Alice a raving review for her trustworthiness by leaving her positive feedback on her review wall.  But when it comes to my trust-list settings I would not include Alice.  Although I thoroughly trust Alice and consider her a close friend, I have very little confidence in her ability to pick trustworthy people for her trust-list.  Of course Alice has set her trust-list to include her boyfriend, Bob and his friend, Jeff, both of whom I explicitly distrust.  If Alice’s bitcointalk.org account was voted to DT1, I would then exclude her from my trust-list.  By allowing Alice to remain on DT1 she would enable a suspected embezzler and convicted thief onto DT2.

Whether I’m a newbie or a legendary DT1 member, the trust-list settings I apply are going to be a reflection of the way I would handle real life analogous scenarios.  By excluding Alice from my trust-list I would eliminate the influence she and her friends would have on the trust-ratings I see in the trading sections of the forum.  It’s that simple.  I set my custom trust-list to elevate the ratings of those whose judgment I find valuable, and minimize the ratings left by those whose reviews I don’t find valuable.  I could still trust Alice as a trading partner, and value her friendship and contributions.

Recently there have been many dramatic events that stem from the forum’s trust-system.  Some members have levied suspicion that racism or nationalism is an influential factor in voting for DT1 inclusion.  Some local groups have indeed made consorted efforts to include members of their particular ethnic group into their trust-list, and it looks funny to the rest of us.  Some of the included members have some shady history, and legitimate negative reviews, making things look even more suspicious to the rest of the forum.  When other members respond by excluding the DT1 members of that ethnic group, ironically that’s when the allegations of racism and nationalism begin along with retaliatory trust-list exclusions.

I don’t suspect there’s anything malicious that leads one local group to include members of their ethnicity to their trust-list.  I think much of it stems from a misunderstanding of the system itself.  The word “trust” is repeatedly mis-used to describe many facets of somewhat complex system, and the repeated use of the word is compounding the confusion.

The retaliatory reaction from these members is also a bit concerning.  It goes beyond their own review visibility (which is being adversely affected,) but they could jeopardize the balance of the system in other smaller ethic groups or the forum as a whole.

Is Turkish President, Recep Erdogan dead?  Turkish news agencies are denying it. 

Yesterday I noticed people on Twitter claiming news reports from other countries in the region are saying he died of a heart attack.  George Papadopoulos tweeted that Greek news papers are reporting his death.  I have two cousins in Jordan who studied in Turkey, they said Jordanian news agencies are reporting he died.

If he is dead, was it really a heart attack, or was he assassinated?  Why is Turkey denying it, and posting what appear to be old pictures of him on Twitter?  What's going on?

This is my 1337^th post, and I've only been here a little over a year.  I know, you're thinking that's nothing; some people can publish that many constructive posts in a just a couple of months.  But keep in mind, this is me we're talking about.  This is the most I've posted on any forum, ever.  I've been enrolled in various forums pertaining to firearms, hunting, mountain biking, motorcycles, astronomy... for decades.  One of my favorite firearm forums I've been a member for 14 years, and my post count is still under 1000.

It's just a testament to how much I like you people.  Like it or not, apparently you're stuck with me.

Carry on and stay awesome, bitcointalk.

I was recently promoted to DT1.  I didn't ask for it, but I take the responsibility seriously.  If any of you believe my reviews, flags, inclusions, or exclusions are out of line, please feel free to discuss it here.


The reason I'm creating this thread right now is because I just left a negative rating for member Csmiami due to his handling of this situation.  I had originally left him a neutral review, but after consideration I decided a negative review is warranted.

Lol, Trump is trolling the Never Trumpers with this hilarious tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1142157838153895941